“Danny doesn’t fit in. His mother is white and his father Mexican. His father left his mother and moved back to Mexico. Danny is spending the summer with his father’s family in San Diego, but he doesn’t know Spanish, and they see him as white. They live in a poverty-stricken part of the city where violence and crime are frequent occurrences. During the school year he attends a private school where everyone else is white and sees him as Mexican. His mother is dating a white man and wants Danny to move with them to San Francisco, but he prefers his father’s family.
Danny has one thing going for him – he’s a seriously great pitcher. He has another thing going for him, too – his family loves him. Danny’s big issue is one common to teens – what is his future? Can he escape his present unhappiness and bad circumstances and have a better life some day?
Why should you read this?
Most of you probably aren’t of mixed race, an ethnic minority, living in poverty, with an absent parent. But even though Danny is different than you, and lives in a place very different from yours, and faces problems you’ll never encounter, inside you may find he is human and understandable, just like you. Writers (and librarians (and teachers)) hope that if you can learn to understand fictional characters who are different than you, it will help you understand real people who are different than you…and that can make your real life, and relationships, much easier….
Now a few words about words – writers have a choice in how to write conversations. They can use clean sanitized language that anyone’s Grandma would approve of, or occasional profanity that makes characters seem more real but makes some people mad at libraries. This author chose to use realistic language – and its not for the faint of heart.
But DBRLteen recommends Mexican WhiteBoy by Matt de la Pena anyway, because great books can take you beyond mere words.”
DBRLTeen wrote this review Wednesday, January 7 2009.
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